State legislative session reaches half-way point

Nebraska lawmakers are returning to work today after a four-day weekend to mark the legislative session’s midway point. Freshman Senator Tyson Larson, of O’Neill, says the body will now shift to all day floor debate.

“We just finished the committee process,” Larson says. “In Nebraska, every bill gets a committee hearing which is good. With the unicameral, it’s very important. It lets the people know they can come in and testify before us and we’ll listen to what they have to say and we take it all into consideration.

Larson says he is pleased with his bill production so far. His bill to create a state meat inspection agency, LB-305, got a committee priority.

“Each committee only gets two priority bills and each senator gets one and for mine to take an agricultural priority shows how important it is that we move forward on this tool of economic development.”

He says another bill dealing with taxes on a wind power facility in Knox County was halted, but he’s working to add it as an amendment to another bill.